British Columbia says it’s taking a team approach to connect more people to health services in a province where 780,000 people are without a family doctor.
The New Democrat government announced a three-year plan Thursday aimed at delivering faster and improved access to health care by offering patients expanded hours of access and more services from medical practitioners.
The plan includes funding for 200 new doctors to work in the team-based model and 200 additional nurse practitioners, which were announced Wednesday. The government will provide $181 million over three years to hire the new doctors and $115 million for the nurse practitioners.
“That team-based approach means we’re going to connect people to doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, psychologists, social workers, dietitians, physiotherapists and other health care professionals that will meet their needs when they need it, where they need it,” Premier John Horgan said at a news conference.
He said the government plans to establish team-based primary care networks in 70 per cent of B.C. communities over the next three years, with the first five in Burnaby, Comox, Prince George, Richmond and South Okanagan-Similkameen.
The networks will provide patients access to a wider range of health-care options and improve supports for family doctors, nurse practitioners and other health providers, Horgan said.
He said the plan also includes opening 10 urgent primary-care centres over the next year to provide services to people without family doctors or nurse practitioners. The urgent care centres will open on weekends and after hours, and strive to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments, said Horgan.
The locations of the urgent care centres and their funding will be announced later this year, he said.
The plan also includes expanding health and social service options at community health centres to integrate them into local primary care team networks, said Horgan.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said B.C.’s primary health care model, which has not changed since the introduction of medicare in 1968, is in need of an overhaul.
He said he expected the plan to start producing results, which includes connecting more patients to family doctors, as the networks of doctors and other health professionals get stronger.
“Day by day we’re going to work to reduce those numbers and give people attachments to general practitioners,” he said. “Those numbers are going to come down, that’s our ambition. This is a transformation of primary care. Our goal is to do better day after day, month after month as we build out to communities across B.C.”
Doctors welcomed the plan to hire more people and provide increased primary care supports, said Dr. Trina Larsen Soles, Doctors of B.C. president.
“I find this plan to be bold and extremely ambitious,” she said at the news conference.
The B.C. Health Coalition, a public health advocacy group, said in a statement primary health care is a priority for the patients and the organization and it welcomed a system-wide transformation.
“People need to be able to access the type of health-care worker that can best address their needs — this might be a physiotherapist, a social worker, a pharmacist, or a doctor,” said Edith MacHattie, B.C. Health Coalition co-chairwoman.
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